Reasons
by Lab Angel
Summary: This is a prequel to Save A Horse, Ride A Cowboy. Thanks for all the great reviews! Keep it up!


Lab Angel: Hey everyone! I'll update Save A Horse, Ride A Cowboy as soon as I can. You know it's not a story unless something dramatic happens, I won't reveal who this dramatic thing is going to happen to. Anyway, this is a sort of side story, that has to do with something referenced in the aforementioned story. Greg's going to tell Nick what he was thinking about during his stay in the hospital, so this is kind of a reference to that. So all-in-all this is more of a prequel or however it's spelt. -thinks for a moment- I think I'm going to make both of them think about their feelings for each other in this fic. Greg from his time in the hospital due to the lab explosion and Nick when he was in the hospital because of fire ant bites. Don't read this without reading a little side note that I put in my profile! I advise if you have a problem with stereotypical little things, read the last paragraph of my profile and that will clear it all up.

Disclaimer: If I owned it, do you think I would be writing fanfics?

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Reasons 

After the Explosion

I lay in the bed at the hospital, not being able to sleep, everytime I do get to sleep I wake up five minutes later drenched in cold sweat. Everytime I do fall asleep, I see the lab exploding again, I can't bear this anymore, I don't think I can be myself again after I get out of here. I give myself a humorless chuckle, everyone's been here to visit me, except the one I really want to see. I look out the window into the night sky, it was nice to see him everyday. I really wish he would come visit me. Getting Warrick's report on how he's doing only makes me want to see him all the more; I can't stand not being able to sit with my back against anything, the burns on my back are worse than the rest of them.

"This is annoying!" I growl, turning slightly to bury my face in the pillow. I hear someone standing at the door and chuckling, pulling my face out of the pillow I look at the door and see Nick standing there. Glaring I pick up one the many pillows on my bed and throw it him, then growl again when he catches it. "Aren't visiting hours over?" I ask annoyed, covering up the need to get up and throw myself onto him, he chuckles and moves to sit on one of the chairs that surrounds my bed. He smiles and pulls his CSI ID tag out.

"It's a get in free pass." He jokes.

"I see." I smile and look at him. "You don't look so good, you okay?" I ask.

"Yeah, just a little worried about you that's all."

"Yeah right. If you were worried about me you'd have come in to see me before now, but this is the first time I've seen you." I ground out really annoyed with him now.

"Just because you couldn't see me doesn't mean I couldn't see you. Everytime I've come you've been asleep, so I left before I could disturb you, the doctor's tell me that if you're sleeping to just let you rest. So that's what I do, I never once wanted to wake you up, because I never wanted to face the consequences of you being in pain." He stops to take a deep breath.

"Calm down killer." I smile again. "I was only joking, I didn't mean to make it sound like I was accusing you of not caring about me." I feel a pang of guilt hit me, I should just tell him how I feel, tell him that I like him and ask him if he'd go out with me. Luckily I'm in a hospital, because I should be ready to be beaten to a pulp. Nick's a Texan, he would never even think about going out with me.

"What's on your mind?" Nick's voice draws me out of thought, I look at him to see that he's looking at me with worry in his eyes.

"Nothing really, just letting my mind wander alittle." I sigh and close my eyes. "Nick would you mind leaving?" I open my eyes to see his expression go from happy and carefree to sad and hurt. "It has nothing to do with your company, I like having you here, but I'm getting kinda tired so I figured I'd go to sleep." He nods in understanding, I close my eyes before I do something thoughtless.

"Okay, I'll come by tomorrow with the others." I nod letting him know that I heard him, I feel a light pressure in one spot of my bed, then the gentle brush of a kiss being placed on my forehead. For a moment I don't react, then my eyes fly open to see that Nick is already out the door, I sit up and lightly touch my forehead.

"Did Nick really just do that?" I mutter to myself, shaking my head I lay back down and close my eyes. "I really should ask Nick if he would go out with me. Maybe he does like me, that little kiss was just the beginning I can tell." I felt myself drift to sleep so I didn't fight it, I wouldn't see the lab explosion this time, this time I'll just see Nick.

After The Fire Ants

I lightly growl at the ceiling, the bites on my eyelids prevent me from opening my eyes too much, but I can tell everyone is around me. They must've been here for sometime, everyone is sleeping, I smile as I feel movement next to my shoulder. Turning my head I see Greg's mess of blonde hair, I smile as he looks up at me a pitying look in his expression. He pulls the rag from my forehead and dips it in a bowl of water with anti-biotics mixed into it, the pitying expression still on his face.

"Don't look at me like that!" I snap hoarsely, he chuckles and wipes at my forehead rubbing the anti-biotic in, then places the cloth back on my forehead.

"Sorry but these bites are just... It's just so sad to see you like this. Is this how you felt when you were looking at me after the lab?" I hear him ask and smile.

"Yeah, I pitied you I thought 'Hey nothing like that's ever going to happen to me, I feel so sorry for him.' It was hard for me to see you laying there on that bed, helpless, unable to do anything without flinching. It tore at my heart." I stop before I let anything else slip, not letting Greg know how I really feel about him. I would hate to let him know how I felt, it was bad enough that I gave into my urges the last time we were in a hospital. _'I shouldn't have let that little kiss happen.'_ I feel his eyes still on me. "Please Greggo don't look at me like that."

"Okay. How would you have me look at you?" I hear him ask, shaking my head, I think for a minute.

"As a friend who will always be there for you." I say softly, I hear more shifting and know that everyone else is waking up.

"Back at you." I hear Greg say.

"What are you talking about Greg?" I hear Warrick ask from my other side.

"I was talking to Nick."

"Yeah 'Rick man, I'm awake here." I say not hiding the false hurt expression.

"Hey man, how you doing?" I hear him ask and chuckle.

"Pretty good aside from the fact that I was bitten by like 2 million ants, other than that I'm doing pretty good. Do me a favor though Grissom." I say knowing full well that he's awake.

"Yeah Nicky? What is it?" He asks from the corner of the bed.

"Never let me go solo again, next time I might not survive." I smile happy that I can at least see Grissom through the slits of my eyes.

"Alright Nicky, I'll make sure someone is with you whenever you go on a case." He says with a smile.

"Well hey, now that we know Nick's going to be okay, I'm gonna get going." I hear Greg say.

"What? You in that much of a hurry to get away from me Greg?" I ask hurt.

"No, it's just I hate hospitals. I can't stand'em, staying here the whole night just brought back too many memories. Don't worry, it has nothing to do with you Nick, just anyway. I'm gonna go home, later Nick." Greg's voice changed pitch, almost like he wanted to say something else. "I'll see you all later, I'll be back later , after I shower and everything. You guys should follow my example, Nick needs rest." I hear the concern in Greg's voice but don't do anything about it. I heard the door open and then another voice.

"This young man is right, my patient needs his rest, he won't get rest if all of you are here keeping him awake. Go, if anything changes I'll be sure to call you. Each of you." The doctor ushered each of them out of the room and out into the hallway. I could hear them still talking muffled but I could still hear them none the less.

"Are we going to go then?" I hear Catherine start the conversation.

"There's nothing we can do except what the doctor tells us, if something happens to Nick, we'll have to trust what the doctor tells us." Grissom adds then I hear the receding footsteps as they all leave. I sigh as the doctor rubs anti-biotics into my arms and legs.

Two Weeks Later

I stretch and yawn. It's been two weeks since the ants and I have a new respect for Grissom and his bug collection. I have a newfound hatred for bugs and a newfound love for Greg. Weird I know, but I love Greg even more than I did before the kidnapping. So here I am, back at work, working a crime scene with Catherine and thinking about Greg.

"Yeah. How fast could you get this done?" I ask the lab tech, I can never remember his name but it doesn't really matter.

"Give me twenty minutes and I should have it done." He answers giving me a quick grin.

"Good, the sooner we catch this guy the safer the children will be." I smile then shudder as a rush of air hits me, turning around I see Greg rushing out of the lab. "Hey Greg!" He stops and turns around.

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Lab Angel: Yay! There you guys have it, the real beginning of this fic! Anyway if you have already read Save A Horse, Ride A Cowboy than you know why I left off. So I'll see you all later! Hope I get some nice reviews, if I get any flames they will be used to roast marshmallows for s'mores. Yay! 


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